University of Pennsylvania Reviews

Great, overall. People here live by the motto of "work hard, play hard". It's a bit difficult to find the balance at first, but there are definitely more than enough academic support that can help you cut down the time and effort you need to spend on academics, which gives you quite a lot of time to do whatever you want. The location of Penn is great for entertainment, internships, conducting researches, and pretty much any sort of opportunity. Although the food on campus isn't great at all, the food in Philly is phenomenal, even the food truck meal that only costs $5 and can sustain you for two meals are delicious. The student body is great and not at all like the stereotypical Ivy kids. Of course, there are the Whartonites and the Nursing people who kind of fit in with the stereotypes, but overall, I'd say that most of the students here are just enjoying their time, pursuing their passions, and exploring the opportunities here.

Penn gave me the best 4 years of my life (so far). Not only did it give me access to excellent faculty and educational opportunities, it fundamentally re-taught me to learn. Here, I had the platform to break down everything I thought I knew, and reconstruct myself into whoever I wanted to be. Some of the more rewarding parts of my experience have been my relationships with my mentors (academic and non-academic), and peers who challenged me everyday and helped me grow. The cross-cultural dialogue in a place with so much diversity was incredibly high, and enabled me to expand my perspective on diverse issues. Overall, it was a very fulfilling experience.

Like any colleges, Penn has both pros and cons. As a graduate student in the School of Social Policy and Practice at Penn (Master's of Social Work), I find that the biggest strength of Penn is its wide reach of professional network, research, etc.The amount of resources/networking opportunities available for developing insight, experience, and others is unimaginable here at Penn. Having deep connections with all three sectors of the non-profit, for-profit, and governmental world brings its students enormous opportunities and information/knowledge to learn and grow from.The cons, however, is that Penn as a whole seems a bit lacking in terms of student activism and engagement. There are clubs to join. But, I rarely see them out in the quad or the walkway outreaching or being vocal about a variety of issues students are concerned with in this age and time.